Subway robber gets 10 years

The defendant's record includes armed robbery, kidnapping and sexual battery.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The gunman who robbed the Subway sandwich shop on West Rayen Avenue near Youngstown State University on Oct. 23 has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Willie H. Anderson, 54, of North Bruce Street, was sentenced Thursday by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to seven years for the aggravated robbery, plus three years for the firearm specification, and she gave him a five-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, to be served during the robbery sentence. Anderson pleaded guilty Wednesday to those charges.
Robert Andrews, assistant county prosecutor, recommended nine years for the robbery, plus the mandatory consecutive three-year gun specification, for a total of 12 years. He also recommended five years on the charge of felon in possession of a firearm, to be served during the robbery sentence.
Dennis DiMartino, the defense lawyer, asked the judge to impose six years for the robbery, plus three for the gun specification.
What judge did
Judge Sweeney approved Andrews' dismissal of a repeat violent offender specification, which could have added up to 10 years to the sentence. Anderson had previously been imprisoned for armed robbery, kidnapping and sexual battery.
Anderson pointed a pistol at the Subway clerk, demanded money and grabbed 170 from the cash register the clerk had opened when Anderson ordered a sandwich, Andrews said.
"I'm truly sorry for it. I mean I regret this," Anderson told the judge. DiMartino said Anderson is a heroin addict who robbed the store to obtain money to buy drugs.
"I think he should get the maximum amount of time in jail," the shop owner said during a tearful victim-impact statement, adding that Anderson pointed a gun in her face and at all her customers.
"His past has shown that he doesn't want to be reformed," she said, adding that the robbery forced the store to close for a day and caused her loss of customers and six days of sleep deprivation.
A female store clerk said the robbery has made her fearful in her daily work, especially when she arrives to open the store.
Co-defendants
Anderson and two people alleged to be accomplices, James Stephenson III, 26, of Deer Creek Court, Austintown, alleged to be the driver of the getaway car, and Develyn Greene, 37, of Laurie Drive, Austintown, were arrested in the minivan on the city's East Side.
Under a plea agreement, Greene pleaded guilty Jan. 11 in Judge Sweeney's court to complicity to aggravated robbery and awaits sentencing Feb. 15. She's facing three to 10 years on the complicity charge, plus a mandatory one-year gun specification. In exchange for her testimony against Anderson, had he gone to trial, the prosecution agreed to make no sentencing recommendation.
Stephenson awaits a March 7 trial in Judge Sweeney's court on complicity to aggravated robbery. If convicted, he could get three to 10 years for complicity, plus a mandatory three-year gun specification, for a total of six to 13 years in prison.